Federal Crown corporations spent nearly $200,000 sending their staff and clients to professional sports events over the past two years, with one paying as much as $233 for seats at NHL games.

Via Rail was by far the biggest spender on professional sports, with season’s tickets for the Montreal Canadiens, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Montreal Alouettes worth more than $107,000.

This season, the railway is enjoying the use of six half-season tickets for Canadiens games at the Bell Centre, at a cost of $31,816. The tickets are earmarked for “Promotion, Contests winners Partners, Employees, Charity Campaigns,” according to documents tabled in the House of Commons.

Via Rail did not name which employees enjoyed the tickets.

Canadian taxpayers help keep Via Rail in business with a parliamentary subsidy that totalled $305 million in 2013-14.

Via spokesperson Mylène Bélanger said the tickets were purchased through the railway’s marketing sponsorships.

“These showcase events are popular with VIA Rail’s intended market audience,” she wrote in an email. “Some VIA Rail employees were in receipt of tickets to conduct business development and promotional activities or as part of an employee recognition program.”

The Business Development Bank of Canada ran up its own five-figure bill on sports tickets over the two years, most of it for hockey tickets in Edmonton. The corporation, which lends money to Canadian businesses, paid $13,107 for Oilers tickets in the 2013-14 season and $13,570 this season. In documents turned over to the Privy Council Office, however, BDC would not reveal which games or who attended.

BDC also paid $206 for a ticket or tickets to a baseball game in Detroit.

The corporation said it is not its practice to buy sports tickets. “A branch did, however, decide to use their local business development budget to buy four season passes to the NHL,” spokesperson Daniela Pizzuto said in an email.

“We have communicated to employees to prevent this from happening in the future.”

Canada Post purchased tickets in groups of eight to 12 for tickets to 18 Montreal Canadiens games, including those against the Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins.

The tickets were used by “employees and customers,” but the identities of those attending was not revealed. Canada Post also refused to say how much it spent on the 209 tickets, saying the figure was a “commercially sensitive business development cost and has always been treated as confidential.”

The spending on sports by these government-owned enterprises was provided in response to a written question tabled by Liberal MP Judy Foote. Even without including Canada Post, these corporations paid $180,362 for sports tickets between Jan. 1, 2013, and last November.

Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton said in an email that the tickets were purchased through a contract. “The contract was terminated in August 2013 before the start of the following season. The corporation has no other contracts of this nature.”

The federally owned Export Development Corporation sent large groups of staff and clients to four hockey games in Ottawa and Vancouver. Nine EDC staff accompanied more than 20 clients to a Canucks game against the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 27, 2014. Each ticket cost $167.60.

Shortly after, another EDC group attended a hockey game in Vancouver, with seven EDC staff and 29 clients sitting in seats that cost $233.33 each. The date is listed as Jan. 30, apparently in error, as the Canucks played a home game a day before, against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Another group of EDC staff attended a Senators game in Ottawa on Dec. 12, 2013 against the Sabres, with most listed as “+ guest” and tickets, at $52.

Among the EDC staff who enjoyed games at the corporation’s expense were Stephano Carrera, director of financing and international relations; Hal Miller, senior business development adviser; John Earl, an account executive; and EDC vice-president Justine Hendricks.

“In general, we undertake networking events to help grow Canada’s trade by connecting Canadian companies that engage in trade and/or connecting them to potential foreign buyers.”

Though they are both Crown-owned, EDC and BDC both make money and neither draws from parliamentary appropriations.

Farm Credit Canada reported spending just over $10,000 on tickets, mostly on Saskatchewan Rough Riders home games in Regina and junior hockey games in Swift Current and Kingston, Ont. The corporation also paid for tickets to curling tournaments in Winnipeg and Lacombe, Alta.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.